Chapter 114: The Grimacing Vine

"Come here, Little Gray!"

Seeing that Little Gray seemed to sense something, Ye Da simply picked the pup up and said, "You know, knowing too much isn't good; it only brings you danger."

"Woof?"

Little Gray’s doggy eyes widened with a hint of terror, and it shivered in Ye Da’s arms.

Ye Da, however, continued with a devilish smile: "Don't be nervous. I just need a few drops of your blood."

"You’ve seen it yourself—Chu Ping is injured so badly that I can’t exactly take his blood. But you’re different. You look to be in great shape, and since you didn't help much while we were out there fighting for our lives today, consider this your contribution."

"As the saying goes, keep troops for a thousand days to use them for an hour. Surely you wouldn't refuse to help your master, would you?"

"Woof! Woof woof..."

Sensing the deep malice, Little Gray began to struggle frantically, letting out mournful whimpers.

Ye Da, showing not a shred of pity for the little wolf, focused his energy to manifest a thin, razor-sharp petrified nail on his finger, then swiped it across the little cub's paw!

*Drip! Drip!!*

*Drip, drip, drip, drip...*

Wolf blood immediately flowed from the paw, soon forming a small puddle.

Seeing there were about ten drops, Ye Da quickly wrapped a piece of linen cord around Little Gray's leg. Not only would this stop the bleeding, but the linen cord also had properties that absorbed blood.

"Awoo-woo~"

Little Gray let out a sorrowful whine. It wasn't so much the pain as the grievance—it was its master who had hurt it, and it could neither resist nor dared to. Its heart just hurt.

"Don't be sad, don't be sad."

Ye Da rubbed Little Gray's head. "How about I reward you with some meat? You're going to evolve after eating anyway, and your wound will heal in no time."

This was why Ye Da had chosen the wolf cub; they evolved whenever they ate meat. Evolution meant their wounds would heal automatically. That was why Ye Da used Little Gray for blood.

As for why Ye Da didn't bleed himself? Firstly, he was cautious and hated pain—if he could hurt someone else, why hurt himself? Secondly... he had just tried, but because of his "Stone Skin" ability, he couldn't manage it. For some reason, the moment he wanted to break his skin to draw blood, his nerves tensed up, causing his skin to petrify automatically, making it impossible to cut! Unless he cut his head or torso—areas not yet covered by Stone Skin—he couldn't draw blood. And honestly, stripping down just for a few drops of blood was far too much trouble.

"Woof!"

As soon as Little Gray heard there was food, its grievances vanished. Its eyes lit up, ears perked, and the cub sat bolt upright, pretending to be perfectly well-behaved.

"Good boy!"

Ye Da tossed it a piece of meat, and Little Gray happily trotted off to eat. Seeing this, Little White immediately stepped forward and lifted its little paw toward Ye Da. It had seen Little Gray get meat after doing exactly that. As for a tiny wound or a little wolf blood... to a glutton, that was nothing!

"You want to be bled too?" Ye Da was amused to see Little White offering its paw. "It’ll hurt, you know. Is that okay?"

"Woof!" Little White the glutton barked in agreement.

A glutton is a glutton indeed. Ye Da was thoroughly impressed, though he already had enough blood from Little Gray to make ten doses of life potion, so taking more was pointless. He took a piece of blackened smoked pork from the fireplace and tossed it to Little White. "I don't need it right now, so consider it an IOU!"

"Woof!" Little White agreed.

Ye Da realized he had picked the wrong wolf. He should have caught Little White instead; this guy would do anything for food.

"Blood is sorted."

Ye Da glanced at the *Pharmacopoeia* on the alchemy station and continued adding ingredients according to the list: one Corrupted Wolf Heart, twenty units of Dog-tail Grass, and ten units of Ghost-face Vine!

The Dog-tail Grass looked just like regular foxtail grass, only snow-white and larger. The Ghost-face Vine, however, was quite strange. It resembled a plant tumor; every segment had a protruding green knot that looked like a fruit, and each knot bore black markings. These weren't random patterns, but shapes that resembled people’s faces twisted in agony. That was why this plant was called the Ghost-face Vine.

Once Ye Da threw all the materials into the slots, the alchemy station began to move on its own. The unmanned mortar began to pound rhythmically.

The most magical part was that even though Ye Da had placed the ingredients into the storage box, he saw that the Ghost-face Vine had somehow appeared in the mortar, and the stone pestle was striking the materials inside. Every time a ghost-face knot was crushed, Ye Da saw bright red juice splatter out, accompanied by a sound like a human scream. It was very brief, but combined with the ghost faces and the red juice, it felt incredibly eerie.

Ye Da shivered, deciding not to watch the bizarre process anymore. He helped Chu Ping into the bathroom to give him a shower.

"Lord, why is that stone table moving on its own?" Chu Ping had heard the clinking and clanging and assumed the Lord was operating it, but when he passed the alchemy station while being supported by Ye Da, he noticed the activity and asked in surprise.

"That's an alchemy station," Ye Da said, finding Chu Ping's question odd. "Doesn't Long Yi have one? With a whole team helping him gather materials, upgrading to an alchemy station should be easy, right?"

"No," Chu Ping shook his head. "Long Yi only discovered the stone mine in the last two days. We barely managed to gather enough stones to upgrade his stone house; there was no way to upgrade anything else. That’s why I’ve always said that Long Yi is nothing compared to you, Lord—he’s not even fit to shine your shoes! I don't know how he and his brother dared to provoke you. They deserved to die!"

"Now that’s an exaggeration," Ye Da said, helpless against Chu Ping's blind worship. Maybe this was just the "fan filter" at work.

"It’s not an exaggeration; I’m telling the truth," Chu Ping insisted.

Ye Da wouldn't dampen his own spirit or boost another's, so he gracefully accepted the praise. "Alright, alright, if you say so."

"Let's wash up first. There’s a shower system, but since there's no water source near the stone house, I can't draw water directly. Use this melted snow; I've had it by the fireplace for a while, so it shouldn't be cold. If you run out, just move the tube to the next container. There should be enough to get you cleaned up."

"Oh, you're giving me something as precious as water?" Chu Ping was moved to tears. "Lord, you are too good to me!"

[Loyalty +5]
[Loyalty +2]
[Loyalty +1]

Chu Ping's loyalty surged to 90%!

Hearing the clattering of the alchemy station stop, Ye Da realized the life potion was finished. He quickly excused himself from Chu Ping’s gratitude. "The life potion is ready. I’ll go get it for you to drink, and you can start repairing your body. While I’m at it, let's see if we can pull that spear out of your chest. With enough life potion, we should be able to offset the blood loss and keep you going until your wounds heal!"